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Just one quarter into 2013, and it's already likely that this year's total dividend payments will easily surpass 2012's record sum. Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, believes that speaks to the growth of dividends, since the 2012 payments included accelerated distributions from 2013 to help investors avoid possible higher taxes if the U.S. had gone over the fiscal cliff.

Net dividend increases (positive actions less negative ones) totaled $14.5 billion in January-March. Of the approximately 10,000 U.S.-traded companies, 944 sweetened their payouts either by boosts, bonuses, or resumptions. That was 39.4% more than the year-ago 677.

However, 139 companies cut or omitted disbursements in the three-month stretch, versus only 35 in January-March 2012. Dividend decreases have been on the upswing for eight months in a row. Silverblatt thinks that is due mostly to smaller issues, and the dollar amount isn't significant, although he's keeping a watchful eye.

Actual cash payments rose 12% in the first quarter, and the forward indicated dividend rate reached an all-time high, said Silverblatt. Nevertheless, payout rates, or the ratio of dividends to net income, remain near their lows at 36%, against the historical average of 52%. That's despite record levels of cash in corporate coffers.

Still, paying issues in the large-cap Standard & Poor's 500 index reached 81.2% in the first quarter, a level not seen since November 1999. The percentage of non-S&P 500 domestic common issues paying a dividend continued to rise, reaching 46.1% in January-March, up from 43.6% in the fourth quarter and 41.7% a year earlier. Those are small percentage gains, but big bucks.

Silverblatt said the weighted dividend yield was 2.6% at March 31, down from 2.8% at Dec. 31, reflecting the 10% jump in stock prices. Dividend yields "remain relatively attractive," he noted, compared with corporate bonds, Treasuries, and bank CDs.

THE 65 DOW STOCKS STARTED off 2013 with a bevy of dividend enrichments and not a single negative action.

A GLOBAL DISTRIBUTOR of industrial and construction necessities,
Fastenalfast -0.963855421686747%Fastenal Co.U.S.: NasdaqUSD41.1
-0.4-0.963855421686747%
/Date(1425420000216-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
7773122AFTER HOURSUSD41.0951
-0.00489999999999924-0.011922141119221411%
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
43972
P/E Ratio
24.610778443113773Market Cap
12262959976.1963
Dividend Yield
2.725060827250608% Rev. per Employee
202721More quote details and news »fastinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
(FAST) has been raising dividends for 11 consecutive years. At the end of 2012, like many big companies trying to give investors a leg up on possible higher taxes, it paid a sizable special dividend, of 50 cents a share. Then, in the first quarter, it lowered its regular payout to a dime a share from 21 cents to partially replenish its cash reserves. Fastenal now believes it has the wherewithal to support a second-quarter dividend payment more in line with its 2012 quarterly disbursement, so last Wednesday it doubled its payout to 20 cents. Yield: 1.6%.